'Toppers blanked in Division V final

Sunday

Nov 11, 2012 at 3:15 AMNov 11, 2012 at 9:55 AM

By John Doylejdoyle@fosters.com Twitter: @JohnDoyle603

SOMERSWORTH — There was no late comeback this time around.

On an afternoon where big plays were hard to come by, the Somersworth High School football team fell short in its quest to win its first state title in 15 years, losing 9-0 at home to Monadnock in the Division V championship game on Saturday.

It was the first title in program history for No. 3 Monadnock, which twice lost in previous championship games. No. 1 Somersworth was searching for its 15th title and first since winning the Division IV crown in 1997. Both teams finished 8-2.

“The turnovers really hurt us today,” Somersworth coach Dan Hodsdon said. “Monadnock, to their credit, they capitalized. They're a great defense and we just had a hard time getting going. We couldn't hit passes when we could have. We had some open shots and just couldn't connect.”

Monadnock scored the winning points early with a 33-yard touchdown run by Drew Bolewski on the Huskies' first drive, one of few big plays all day for either team. Somersworth's Darren Glore blocked the extra point, but the visitors had a 6-0 lead with 8:11 to go in the first quarter.

Bolewski's TD run came just three plays after Mason LeClair intercepted a pass by Somersworth quarterback Drew Francoeur on the Hilltoppers' opening series. It was the first of a pair of turnovers by Somersworth on their first two drives.

The Hilltoppers struggled mightily to move the ball all day. Running back Josh Ream, who was held to zero yards rushing by Monadnock when the teams met in the regular season, ran for 34 yards on 14 carries on Saturday but was unable to break free for a big gain. Running back Kurtis Michaud, who ran for 102 yards and a touchdown in the Hilltoppers' semifinal win over Stevens, did not get a touch.

“We just had a hard time getting things going on offense,” Francoeur said. “It was so slippery out there, it was hard to make cuts. We fell down a lot when we were trying to make cuts. That was tough.”

Somersworth's field took a beating during a midweek storm, and there was discussion of moving the game to a venue with artificial turf. The field was deemed playable on Friday after much work was done to repair the storm damage, but the field was nevertheless muddy at game time on Saturday.

“It was like quicksand,” Ream said about the field conditions. “It was hard to get downfield. You couldn't get your footing or do anything like that. It was hard to make some cuts. They set up well and held us on the passing plays.”

Francoeur was 6 for 21 passing for 90 yards and was held to a single rushing yard.

“The whole game plan today, obviously, was to keep Francoeur inside the pocket,” said Monadnock coach Linwood Patnode. “Don't let him break one on you. He's a ticking time bomb. You never know when he's going to get loose.”

Somersworth's only other loss of the season was at Monadnock on Sept. 22, a game which the Hilltoppers rallied to tie after trailing by 14 points late in the fourth quarter, only to lose 21-14 in overtime.

There was no comeback in store on Saturday. Somersworth took over for its final drive at the Monadnock 49-yard line and 5:53 to go in the game. A pass-interference call gained the Hilltoppers 18 yards, and Francoeur broke a number of tackles on the next play for a 14-yard gain that gave Somersworth first-and-10 at the Huskies' 12.

Unfortunately for Somersworth, that's where the drive stalled. Four passes to the end zone by Francoeur went incomplete (two were just inches out of Michaud's reach) and Monadnock took over with 4:11 to go.

“We talk all the time about coming back in the fourth quarter,” Hodsdon said. “We needed to make plays, execute some things, and we just didn't do those little things we needed to. And this is the result.”

Any hope for a miracle comeback by Somersworth fizzled on fourth-and-3 from the Monadnock 19, when Isaiah Prince swept to the right on a fake punt and gained 53 yards with just over a minute remaining, putting the game on ice for the Huskies and kick-starting their sideline celebration.

“We definitely thought we had a chance to come back,” Francoeur said. “We didn't want to give up whatsoever at any time in that game.”

After a pair of turnovers on their first two drives, the third was a disaster for the Hilltoppers. Francoeur was called for intentional grounding near the end zone (he was lucky not to be called for a safety), and a pooch punt on the next play pushed Monadnock back only to the Hilltopper 7-yard line. That set up a 25-yard field goal by Trevor Goquen early in the second quarter, which put Monadnock up 9-0 and closed out the scoring for the day.

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